This first collection of favorite traditional holiday carols includes: "Jingle Bells" (7 players), "Deck the Halls" (7 players), and "Good King Wenceslas" (8 players). These works will delight the audience at your winter concert. Each carol is a complete work with individual parts. Instrumentation: Glock/Bells, xylophone, chimes, snare drum. bass drum, timpani, 2 wood blocks, sleighbells, tom-toms, tambourine, suspended cymbals, temple blocks.

"Your music was a great success"
   Ken Crutchfield - New Rochelle, NY

Instrumentation: Bells, Xylo, Chimes, Snare, Bass, two Timpani, Tambourine, Suspended Cymbal, Triangle and Temple Blocks. This enjoyable collection of holiday classics contains "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (eight players), "Ukrainian Carol" (eight Players), and "Toyland" (seven players). These three tunes are beautifully arranged for the instrumentation commonly in the middle school or junior high school setting. Everyone will appreciate the holiday spirit after hearing these ensembles. Grades 2-3.

"For high school or middle school band directors looking to spice up their annual holiday concert, John Russell's second installment of Favorite Holiday Carols will fit the bill. These yuletide tunes, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Ukrainian Bell Carol" and "Toyland" are arranged for a seven or eight member percussion ensemble. Russell scores these tunes for instruments found in any public school, and the parts may be handled by virtually any level percussion student. The arrangements, however, are not simple orchestrations of these tunes; instead, there are twists, turns and unexpected breaks in the melodies that give the non-pitched percussion instruments an integral role in each piece. And rather than the traditional 6/8, the "Ukrainian Bell Carol" in notated in _, wisely avoiding the three-against-two notation. Performers and audience members alike will enjoy these unusual adaptations of unforgettable tunes."
Scott Herring -PERCUSSIVE NOTES June 2004